


[C] A Little Bit of This or That

by OneofWebs



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse), Resident Evil - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Awkward Conversations, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Tension, Boys Kissing, Falling In Love, Fluff and Humor, Football, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, High School, Homework, Love Confessions, M/M, Overthinking, Sleepovers, Slow Build, Slow Romance, Sports, Studying, Teen Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, planning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:55:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24791959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneofWebs/pseuds/OneofWebs
Summary: Krauser is pretty sure he's alone with himself and this lingering feeling he has. They don't exactly make guides calledHow to Deal with your Crush, for Boys, anyhow, which means he's alone. He's had these feelings since the minute he met Leon, and now that they're about to graduate and potentially never see each other again, he has to find out what to do with them.Highschool Au
Relationships: Leon S. Kennedy/Jack Krauser
Comments: 15
Kudos: 34





	[C] A Little Bit of This or That

**Author's Note:**

> This is pretty much pure, tooth-rotting fluff. I really had a good time writing with it; I've never done any fanwork for resident evil, as much as I adore the series, so this really was a good time. Do enjoy!

There were about thirty different things that Krauser would have imagined himself doing on a day dedicated to showing off and advertising clubs. He was a part of a club—arguably, the most important club. He played running back on the school’s football team, and he, rightfully, should have been with the team to help push for new recruits and donations. They were in desperate need of new equipment, and with Krauser and their quarterback graduating at the end of the year, they were in desperate need of new stars.

Instead, Krauser was wandering the halls with his hood pulled over his hood as if no one would recognize him for his size alone. There wasn’t even a reason to be acting so covert about this, but he was looking at clubs that no one would have ever expected him to look at. He was a sports fanatic. His locker was decorated in football decals, and there were already rumors circulating that he was going to college on a football scholarship, ready to play for one of the best college teams in the area.

He was looking at the expertly done tri-fold poster for _book club_ , of all things. He was trying to look at it, think it over, and grab the application all before the member running the booth would return. Krauser wasn’t exactly ready to face anyone about this, because it was stupid. _He_ thought it was stupid, anyway. Football starts didn’t join book clubs, especially when their goal wasn’t even to read. His goal was something far less enlightening, and if he were any better at people, he could have gone about it in an entirely different way.

Too late. Krauser wasn’t fast enough, and he’d blame it on the fact that he’d been up all night worrying about how this was going to go. At least, no one could ever accuse him of not having a sensitive side. He’d only barely just managed to pick up the application for joining when _he_ came back to the table. If Krauser had any foresight at all, he would have planned a better time to stop by the booth.

Leon Kennedy was exactly who Krauser was trying to avoid. He didn’t hate Leon. It was the exact opposite, actually. He _liked_ Leon and was more than positive that Leon didn’t like him as anything more than cordial, convenient acquaintances who suffered through physics together. Krauser was good at physics, funnily enough. Leon wasn’t. By some grace of _something_ , they’d ended up being lab partners, and the whole acquaintance thing had happened on its own.

“Looking to try out book club, hm?” Leon asked. He looked pleased, really, but Krauser was in the sort of mindset where it looked like jovial mocking.

“Is there a problem with that?” Krauser bit back, a bit harsher than he meant to.

Leon didn’t so much as flinch. “Not at all. We’ve been looking for new members, anyway. Maybe you’ve got something to suggest?”

“Maybe.”

Leon smiled. “Hope to see you there.”

Like Krauser was actually going to believe that. Still, it was nice to dream about the possibility that Leon wanted to see him _anywhere_. Which, he did, but Krauser was dead set on taking everything the wrong way. He was convinced that Leon couldn’t even deign to like him as a friend, so the thought that Leon could like him as anything more was so entirely out there that Krauser was just setting himself up for failure. Good job. Go team.

He didn’t have to have the application turned in anytime soon. The clubs were open year-round. If he didn’t want to join until the turn of the year, then that was entirely his choice. If he decided not to join at all, then he was just avoiding the problem. His goal was to find out how to get closer to Leon, not to chicken out because he really didn’t have much interest in book club. Not that he didn’t enjoy a good book from time to time, it was the discussion part that he didn’t enjoy.

The second thing of the day that Krauser wouldn’t have expected himself to do was actively seek out Chris Redfield for a little chat. The only club Leon was in was book club, and that wasn’t going to give Krauser enough ammunition to, say, get Leon to like him. If there was anyone who would know what Leon liked, it was going to be Chris. As far as Krauser knew, Leon and Chris were essentially inseparable. Those sort of friends that had been friends for so long that they may as well have been born holding hands.

Krauser had always thought Chris was a bit of a try hard. He was going to join the military right after high school and make it big as some American hero. Until then, he was going to suffice as a track and field hero. He had a few records here and there, but the track and field team, as a whole, was nowhere near as impressive as the football team. A little friendly rivalry was healthy, and it wouldn’t keep Chris and Krauser from talking. They’d just never chatted about something so personally and about something so Leon.

That was a plan for lunch, though. Until lunch, Krauser was going to attempt to enjoy club day. He could walk around and see what else was going on, just to satiate some curiosity, and then he could do what he was _supposed_ to be doing on club day: telling new students about the football team so they’d join or get their parents to donate to the fundraisers they had planned for the year. The teacher dunking booth was always a big hit.

Among those who already attended school, Krauser wasn’t exactly popular. He was better described as unapproachable. It was that sort of detached _cool_ where people knew who he was and might have dreamed about being his friend, but it never really happened. He’d dated on and off, once or twice, but it wasn’t anything special. He had a few friends, too, but nothing overly special.

The difference with the new kids was that they didn’t _know_ he wasn’t approachable or relatively on his own. The new kids wanted to talk to him and hear about his recent games, his most successful plays. He didn’t want to revel in that kind of attention, but he did. It was, at the very least, a nice distraction. He could answer questions and work on convincing these kids to support their school’s team and their favorite star. If he was doing that, he didn’t have to think about the application burning a hole in his back pocket and what it meant.

He and Leon were in the same class—the graduating one. This was the last chance Krauser had to do anything about these stupid, lingering feeling things. Either confirm or deny them. Whatever worked better.

After his little meet and greet, the lunch bell rang. Afterward, the rest of the day would be spent at some pep rally that Krauser had to participate in out of some obligation to the team or whatever. The coach had explained it to him each time he tried a new excuse to get out of it, and no excuse short of death and dismemberment seemed good enough. That meant that instead of sitting in the bleachers next to Leon, he’d have to stand out in front of the entire school and hold up inane signs.

Thankfully, it was Friday. He’d have all weekend to create his plan of attack and come back with a fresh start. Until then, it was still lunch time. He had to catch Chris before he could run off too far and make it impossible to ask him a few questions. They were incredibly awkward questions, but Chris owed him one. Leon wasn’t the only senior bad at physics. Leon, at least, was better at doing his own work. Krauser didn’t particularly care if Chris wanted to copy a few answers, especially when it meant he _owed_ Krauser something.

“Hey, Chris!” Krauser called after him. He’d forgone getting his own lunch for the moment to ensure there was time for this. If he needed to stop by some fast food on the way home, then so be it. School lunch wasn’t that good anyway.

“Sup, Jack,” Chris offered him a weak salute.

“Got a couple of questions I need you to answer. About Leon.”

Chris crinkled up his nose. “What? That not a little weird, to you?”

It _was_ a little weird, and Krauser was entirely ready to admit that to himself. Not to Chris.

“Figured you have no right to ask _why_ ,” Krauser continued. “You owe me one, anyway. Just tell me what I need and consider us even.”

Chris mulled that over for a long moment. He would never have considered Krauser to be a debt collecting sort of guy; there were plenty of favors exchanged back and forth all the time—notes, lunch, money. Nobody was ever keeping score. If this was important enough for Krauser to _start_ keeping score, then it was probably just easier to go along with it.

“Alright,” Chris agreed. “Whatcha looking to know? I don’t have forever.”

Krauser rolled his eyes. As if Chris really had something that important on his agenda. “First thing’s first, you’re not allowed to tell him about this.”

“Sworn to secrecy.”

“What does Leon like to do? Other than the book thing, I mean.”

“Video games,” Chris replied. “He’s real into that new one that just came out—the zombie one? It’s like some remake of an old retro version of it, and he’s about to marry his copy, I swear.”

Krauser hadn’t been expecting _video games_ , but he could make do with that. He wasn’t exactly an avid player, but he wasn’t stupid, either. He knew the game that Chris was talking about, and if he had to spend a little cash for his plan to work, then so be it. He’d buy the game on his way home and give it a shot. He’d buy every game in the series, if he had to.

“Does he like to go to games?”

“What, like _your_ games?” Chris scoffed. “He comes to the track meets all the time. He’s very supportive,” said in a very faked, touched voice where Chris was going to act like it was a sacrifice on Leon’s part to get free food from Chris’s mom when he came to the meets.

“If I get you both free tickets could you get him to come to the last game of the year, then?” Krauser asked, folding his arms. “We’re planning a big party afterward, and if inviting you means Leon will come, then I’m willing to make the sacrifice.”

“How noble,” Chris snorted. “Sure, sure. I’ll talk him into it.”

“What about foods?”

“No allergies; really has a weird thing about tacos. Loves’em.”

They continued like that for several minutes. Krauser asked seemingly inane questions, and Chris answered them without missing a beat. He’d been Leon’s friend for ages. There wasn’t a thing about Leon that he didn’t know when it came to questions like these. Favorite color. Favorite band. Weather. Food. Drink. Sports. The easy questions shattered with Krauser’s next question—did Leon like guys. _At all_?

Chris nearly sputtered. “Wait, what? What kind of a question—no, I don’t know that.”

“Find out.”

“Why? How do you just ask someone that?”

“Figure you just ask. You’re best friends, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but—okay, okay,” Chris sighed. “You know what, fine. I’ll ask. As long as this makes us even for the rest of the year.”

“Sure,” Krauser responded, because he didn’t keep count, anyway. For all he knew, they were already even, and he was asking an extra favor. Chris didn’t know any better, but if that was the deal that it took, then that was the deal. They would have even shaken on it if Chris hadn’t been holding his food tray this entire time.

“I’ll let you know my grand discovery on Monday. Don’t forget about those free tickets, Jack. See if you can score three so I can bring Claire.”

“Done. See you on Monday.”

Chris laughed. “No, I’ll see you at the pep rally. Can’t wait to see what kinda stupid stuff they make you guys do. Pep rallies are awful.”

That was something that they could agree on. The only reason students supported the continuation of these stupid things was because it was a get-out-of-class free card. There was free food and free fun, and the only price to pay was sitting in the gym to listen to a few people talk about stuff they weren’t going to listen to, anyway. _Then_ , they got out of school early. The awkward and horrible parts were worth it for that alone.

The pep rally came, and Krauser tried not to pretend that Leon was attentively looking at _him_ and not the lineup of important people talking about important things. Even if one of those important people talking about important things was the coach for the football team, which meant Krauser and their quarterback got to stand up at the microphone to talk, too. Leon was just good at paying attention—he’d always had a few of those nerdy qualities to him.

The weekend came, and Krauser spent the entirety of Saturday holed up in his room with this new video game. It was nothing like the games he’d _usually_ played, when he had the urge to play. That urge was a rare thing, anyway. This was literally learning an entirely new skill set, one that Krauser wasn’t skilled at to begin with. As this game was filed under _for research purposes only_ , Krauser hadn’t minded playing it on easy. Even easy with aiming assistance wasn’t going to be enough to make up for the fact that he was just _bad_ at this game.

He was bad at the game, but the more pressing issue was that he was actually enjoying it. The story was stellar, even if he was progressing in a backwards fashion. It wasn’t an awful thing. Rather, it was a grand opportunity. All he had to do was figure out a way to subtly drop his new game into a conversation with Leon; they’d start talking about it, which would lead Krauser to regretfully admitting that he wasn’t very good at it. Maybe Leon would like to come over and help him out?

It was fool proof. It was not over thinking proof.

There were about thirteen different ways that Krauser’s plan could go wrong, and he thought through them while he was forced to replay the same mission three times over. He could not muster the courage to drop the game into a conversation. He could not find a time to actually have a conversation with Leon. Consider both of those things happened, maybe Krauser wouldn’t think to ask Leon to come over, and Leon wouldn’t just offer. Assuming _that_ didn’t happen, maybe Leon would see how bad Krauser was and just make fun of him. Maybe the whole thing would be the formation of an embarrassing rift between them.

Then there were the stupider issues that Krauser thought about. What if Leon tried to come over but ended up getting in an accident? What if their plans were canceled last minute because family stepped in? What if a meteor struck? Krauser was certain that a meteor wasn’t going to strike, but one could never be too careful.

He’d never been this nervous about anything, and really, it wasn’t like him. Even his family noticed that something wasn’t quite right, but Krauser wasn’t about to explain his predicament to his _mother_. It wasn’t the fact that he was pining after Leon that would bother her—she wouldn’t care as long as the recipient of Krauser’s affection was a living, breathing person. She would be bothered by Krauser acting like a love-sick child about it. He’d never been this unsure of himself, before, and it wasn’t a good look.

Krauser played that same mission a consecutive six times before he finally gave up and turned off the game system. He would try again the following day. For the remainder of his Saturday, he had actual things to do with his time. Homework, chores, practice—a list of things that he’d make for himself where he might have not had to do some of the things he was planning on doing. The positive side of uncharacteristic stress was how productive it was going to make him. There was no length Krauser wouldn’t go to get his mind off Leon for five minutes.

It never did cross his mind that his plans would be entirely contingent on what Chris reported back on Monday. He’d always heard it was a bad idea to still try and befriend someone to whom you held affections who would never return them, but Krauser also considered himself a bit more emotionally robust than the people who wrote whiny articles like that. Maybe he was the one reading the articles, but that was beside the point. Even if Chris came back and told him that Leon would rather die than ever date another guy, he was sure they could still be friends.

Sunday came, and Krauser tried the game again. It took him two tries, but he finally passed the mission with the lowest score that he could have possibly done it with, and not a point higher. He wasn’t going for high scores; he was going for being able to complete the damn thing. Besides, being able to actually progress was a good way to keep himself from thinking.

He’d liked Leon since he met him, really. It’d just taken him a bit of time to admit that to himself. At first, he’d thought he had trouble talking to Leon because he didn’t like Leon at all. Leon wasn’t anywhere near as serious as Krauser was, and while he had his moments, Krauser had originally thought it was a rift. _Then_ , he’d thought he had trouble talking to Leon because Leon didn’t like him at all. That had been quickly proved false, because Leon did actually seem to enjoy talking to him in those convenient moments when they did chat.

Eventually, the only option left was that Krauser simply liked Leon way too much to have any know how on how to speak with him. Again, it was a sort of anxiety that he’d never experienced before, but he figured that just meant he’d never really liked someone this way before. New experiences brought new reactions to them, he supposed. He’d do what he was best at and just muddle his way through it. That method hadn’t failed him yet.

Monday came, eventually. Krauser was still going to have to wait the majority of the day to talk to Chris, because there just wasn’t time. Chris was that sort of guy who got to school five minutes before the bell rang, which meant they couldn’t talk before school. They didn’t share any class together, other than physics, and physics was full of actual work, not talk. That meant that Krauser would have to wait until _lunch_ , and that was only if he could catch Chris in time to talk to him before he ran off to eat with Leon.

That had been the plan, anyway, to catch Chris in time to talk before they ate. He _did_ catch Chris in time to talk before they ate, but Chris refused to hand over his answer. Instead, he gave Krauser a firm pat on the shoulder and promised they’d talk after school. They both had after-school activities, even if they took place on opposite sides of the campus. They could meet up before they both ran off to their respective things, and Chris promised he’d give Krauser the _full_ answer.

As if that was going to help Krauser feel any better about this. He’d already convinced himself that Leon wouldn’t even want to be friends, so it wasn’t really a stretch to convince himself that he already knew what Chris had found out. It wasn’t anything in his favor. Having that to look forward to wasn’t going to make for a good lunch or a good remainder of the day; he couldn’t even convince himself to not get disappointed until he knew for sure. He already thought he did.

It was rough. Krauser had spent that morning filling out his application for the book club, and now, he was just left staring at it. Did he really still want to turn it in? He was going to have to turn it in before he heard Chris’s answer. He could reasonably wait until Tuesday to turn it in, but he wanted to put things into motion as soon as possible. He had told himself that, regardless of Chris’s answer, he still wanted to be friends with Leon. The book club was as good a place to start as any.

He’d turn it in and keep telling himself that a friendship would be perfectly fine, if that’s all he could get. He may have eagerly known he was lying to himself, but as long as he didn’t let himself know that, then he’d be fine to carry on in the same way that he had been. Repression was a strong suit, but it was going to be his finest honed skill by the end of this adventure.

The hours _dragged_ , once Krauser got back from lunch. He had three classes left, and they were the longest classes of his life. He could hardly focus, hardly concentrate, and hardly work at all. He should have been better than this; he knew how important it was to pay attention in school and do well. Scholarships for sports prowess were nice, but they still came with a minimum GPA requirement. If he couldn’t help himself in high school, then how was he going to manage in college?

Still, he figured if he only did this _once_ , then that would be fine. It was the only time that he’d ever come across a situation as specifically intense as this one, and if that weren’t true, he’d at least have experience for the next time. He was hoping there wouldn’t _be_ a next time. Some part of him was still stupidly expecting for Chris’s news to be good news, and that this all ended with frolicking off into the sunset. That was highly irregular of him, but a guy was allowed to have stupid dreams of things being easy, every now and again.

After years and years and years of struggling with his final classes, school was over for the day. He rushed through the final packing of the day, running down what homework he had and throwing all of it haphazardly into his bag. The only thing he left out was the application, because he needed to get that turned in. Krauser wasn’t about to let himself chicken out on something so stupidly simple—turn in a piece of paper with his name in class schedule on it. There was more than that, but that was the basic idea. Easy.

And it was on the way. He had to drop it off at the main office, which was three feet away from the doors that he needed to use to go outside and find Chris. But, of course, since nothing could go exactly how Krauser wanted it to go, he had to spend ten minutes in the office chatting with the secretary who worked there. She was some lonely old lady who should have retired years ago, which meant that all she wanted to do was chat when students came in to do things. _Especially_ when those things were time sensitive.

The old lady eventually let him go, and Krauser tried not to rush outside to meet Chris. Chris was resting comfortably, sprawled out on a bench that wasn’t far off from the school entrance. Krauser made himself known by blocking Chris’s perfect access to the sunlight, which prompted Chris to open his eyes and frown.

“Thought you weren’t going to show,” he said, pushing himself up to sit. He pulled his bag, which had been his pillow, over to his side so Krauser had a place to sit.

“I got held up in the office.”

“Ah, my condolences. So, are you ready for the story of a lifetime? I went to hell and back for you, man. I think you actually owe me lunch now, or something.”

Krauser snorted, but he smiled.

Chris hadn’t known how to just come out and ask Leon: _hey, are you gay?_ If he were, Chris would have no problem with it, it was just that _he_ wasn’t, and he really didn’t need the question coming off like he was asking because he was interested. That would have opened a different can of worms and made things more awkward than they’d been, already. Instead, Chris had concocted his own version of a fool proof plan.

It had started with the invention of a cousin who didn’t exist, a cousin that Chris wasn’t exactly close to—which is why Leon had never met him—but that Chris had reconnected with, recently, for some undisclosed reason. Leon hadn’t asked, and it wasn’t in Chris’s story telling personality to explain all the needless details. That would have made it seem too much like a lie, and Chris had tried very hard to make sure he wasn’t caught.

This fake cousin had talked about his new issue of figuring out he was gay, and it was easiest to talk to Chris about it because Chris would have no preconceived notions of him. Sounded realistic enough. Leon bought it. Chris had gone off in talking about the things his fake cousin had told him, all of these new struggles—which were loosely based on struggles that Chris could only imagine Krauser was going through, but he hadn’t said that to anyone.

All if it had led to Chris asking if Leon had any advice, things that he could tell his fake cousin to chill him out. They’d ended up talking about it for a lot longer than Chris had expected, because, as it turned out, Leon _did_ have something to say about it. The longer they talked, the more personal it seemed to get. At this point in the story, Krauser was getting a bit antsy with how long it was taking, but Chris kept talking about how personal it got. Things he’d learned about Leon that he hadn’t ever known, and no, he wasn’t sharing.

“Can we get to the point?” Krauser frowned. “I didn’t ask for a play-by-play on how you did this.”

“You’ve got no sense of imagination. I crafted the world’s best story to figure this out for you, think that’s worth you listening to it.”

Krauser couldn’t argue that, so he continued to listen to Chris talk.

Somewhere through the weirdly personal conversation, they’d decided to turn their hang out into a sleep over. Chris ordered pizza while Leon haggled with his parents, because he wasn’t taking no for an answer. They’d eaten, they’d played video games, and the weirdly personal conversation had started right back up again. Only that time, it wasn’t based on the hypothetical of Chris’ fake cousin. This time, it was based in the actual reality of Leon’s life.

“Anyway,” Chris skipped to the end. “That’s how I found out he’s got no idea, but certainly thinks it’s possible. Apparently, he _likes_ someone. He wouldn’t tell me that, though. Gotta say, I was a bit hurt. We did all that sharing, and he wouldn’t even tell me who he liked! The nerve.”

“Right, the nerve.” Krauser wasn’t even listening. He was too caught up on the fact that he’d been wrong—Chris didn’t have _bad_ news. It wasn’t exactly definitive, but it was something. It was a chance.

“Well, I gotta get off to things and stuff. He also said he’d be cool to go to the football game, so I expect some tickets.” Chris stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Sound good?”

“Thanks,” Krauser said. “I’ll get you that lunch at some point.”

“Great. I love lunch.” Chris waved off, then, and left Krauser to sit on the bench by himself.

Krauser’s _plan_ had been nothing more than a bunch of hypothetical nonsense, before now. Now, his plan seemed entirely useless, because it hadn’t really been based in any reality that this might work. He might _actually_ have a chance, and then what? Was playing around at book club and video games really going to be a good idea? They were things that Leon liked, but that didn’t _mean_ anything. That wasn’t enough to make a relationship out of, but it was a start.

He wasn’t going to sit there and freak himself out before anything had even started. He wouldn’t even officially be in the book club until next week, and that gave him enough time to figure out books. Chris had given him a few good ideas in their prior week interrogation. That would be step one, which meant he had a week to just go about his life as normally as possible before things really fell into motion. He was going to use that week to his advantage, and not to sabotage himself.

He was Jack Krauser, for god’s sake. He didn’t turn into a nervous, squirming child just because there was a chance he’d actually get to date Leon. He certainly didn’t think about all the stupid dates they could go on. He had practice to get to and a game to prepare for.

Book club met on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which worked great for Krauser. It wouldn’t cut into his practices. That made the coach happy, too, as he was sure their team would suffer if Krauser started missing practices for some other obligation. Krauser never really intended to make book club another obligation; it was just the means to an end. Maybe book club didn’t deserve to be treated like that, but it was just going to have to manage for the time being.

It was Tuesday, which meant that Krauser would find his butt in a chair in the library after his last class. It was his first chance to really get close to Leon. Hopefully, it was going to work, but Krauser was already having his doubts. First, he knew nothing about how book clubs even operated. Two, he chose an awful chair.

He thought he’d arrive at a time that meant he could conveniently sit himself down next to Leon. It was stupid to have assumed what time that would be, as he’d never been to book club, before. When he walked into the library, there were only two seats left at their table. Neither of them was by Leon, and neither of them had any convenient view of him, either. That was going to make it impossible to talk to him just in the context of the club, which took Krauser straight to plan B.

Plan B involved figuring out how to grow enough confidence by the end of their hour meeting to just talk to Leon on his own. Krauser should have been able to just talk to Leon—it wasn’t _hard_ to talk to people. He had no issue talking to Chris, and he’d never had any issue talking to Chris’s sister, either. Leon was different, because, of course, he had to be different. Things couldn’t just be easy. No matter how many times Krauser could think of how to approach this situation in his head, it never _worked_ that way.

He didn’t know how to deal with it, either. As far as he’d ever been told, he was acting like a baby. He was acting like a _girl_. There weren’t helpful articles and books called _How to Talk to your Crush, for Boys._ As far as society was concerned, boys didn’t _have_ those kinds of feelings and didn’t need to know how to work through them. That left Krauser entirely on his own, kept to himself, and wondering what to do about it.

He was going to have the perfect thing to talk about, and he realized that the longer the book club carried on. He knew the book they were talking about, but he had no idea how to chime in and join their discussion. That was the point of book club, and he did seem to be the only one talking. Leon was the only student that he knew here, so it wouldn’t be strange for him to seek out guidance from Leon. It was easier to talk to an acquaintance than it was to talk to someone new, especially when they all already knew each other.

As he was just sitting there, the club seemed to drag on and on. Fifteen minutes felt like an hour, and he could have sworn it would be nighttime by the end of the discussion. The end did come, and the sun was still out. Krauser may have barely survived it, but he was sure there were more complicated things he would face at some point in his life. Book club wasn’t going to kill him, if he didn’t let it. All he had to do was get out of this chair and catch Leon before he left, and _that_ might just be the more complicated thing he was talking about.

Thankfully, Leon was one of those people who was slow to pack up, after things were finished. It wasn’t hard to catch him when he wasn’t going anywhere. All Krauser had to do was throw his own bag over his shoulders and walk up to where Leon was diligently trying to fit all of his work back into his bag. He’d spent some of that discussion working on homework, and Krauser didn’t blame him. Leon actually had been the only other one to spend some of that discussion quiet, and that was intriguing.

“Rough crowd,” Krauser started, in lieu of a greeting.

“Hm?” Leon looked up. “Oh, yeah. They get into it, don’t they?”

“You’re the face of this thing. I thought you’d be the one getting into it.”

Leon laughed a little. “Yeah? I guess that makes sense, but I like to listen, mostly.”

“How do you even get anything in with the way they go at it?” Krauser asked. He waited until Leon had his bag fully packed, then, and they were walking out of the library door together.

“It’s like waiting for an opening and just going for it. You’ve got a fifty-fifty chance that they even hear you.”

Krauser snorted. “Why do you hang out there, then? Sounds rough.”

“Good time to work on stuff. Like I said, they’re fun to listen to, too. Definitely don’t hate it. What about you?”

Krauser shrugged. “Looking for a few things to pad the college app,” he lied.

“Good plan. Not much time left, is there. I thought you had that cool scholarship going for you?” Leon glanced at him, shifting his backpack around.

“That’s a rumor I will neither confirm nor deny,” Krauser said with a straight face and a thumbs-up.

Leon snickered. He knew that was as much confirmation as he was going to get. “I hear you, don’t worry. Working on anything else for those college apps?”

That was his chance. Krauser was never going to get another chance as perfect as that one. Leon had asked him a _question_.

“Not any clubs, no. Started using my weekends to play video games instead. I figure college will eat up the rest of my life when it happens, so I might as well have fun, now.”

“Oh, yeah?” Leon was suddenly beaming at him. “What have you been playing?”

This could not have been going more perfect. Krauser hadn’t expected Leon to show this amount of curiosity on his own, but it was happening. Leon was looking at him, smiling—like they were friends? Were they friends? He hadn’t thought that was possible, but now he was beginning to consider that maybe he was wrong. Maybe Leon had thought they were friends the whole time, in which case, Krauser hadn’t been a very good one.

“I picked up that new game that came out, the zombie one?”

Leon’s eyes lit up. “I love that game. I bought it when it first came out. Well, I pre-ordered it. I’ve been playing it nonstop ever since.”

Krauser could have lied and said he’d been playing it for ages, too, but that wouldn’t have been right of him.

“I just got it last weekend,” he admitted. “Haven’t gotten too far. Turns out, I’m not cut out for the whole zombie shooting thing.”

“I’m sure you’re fine.”

“I only just got to secure a base of operations,” Krauser said, dully. He held open the door to the stairway for Leon, then walked after him.

“And you’ve had it for two weeks?” Leon grimaced. “You suck.”

Krauser frowned.

“That was mean, yeah. Sorry,” Leon raised up his hands in defeat. “Okay. Is there something specific you struggle with?” They stopped walking. “I could show you all the secrets and stuff. It’s got a bit of a trick to it—well, wait.” Leon’s nose scrunched up. “I didn’t mean to just invite myself over.”

“How’s Friday?” Krauser asked. “You’d have to stay until after practice, but we could just—go home together,” he bit out the last part like it hurt.

“That sounds great. Do I need to plan for anything…?” he asked.

Krauser looked at him expectantly.

Leon grumbled. “Like, am I staying the night or are you shipping me home at eleven o’clock?”

“Oh. Sorry.” Krauser was trying not to smile. “I don’t have a lot of people over. Not really sure what the protocol is.”

Leon snorted. “Protocol? It’s pizza and mountain dew. I’ll pack my stuff.”

“It’s a date,” Krauser said, without even realizing. He was about to sputter out a stupid, useless apology. What on Earth was he thinking, saying that? But Leon smiled. Krauser even swore his face went red, but that must have just been the weird lighting, right? Leon wouldn’t be blushing about something like that, would he? Krauser was seeing things.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Jack.” Leon waved and hurried off.

That had been different. Krauser had imagined that happening in fifteen different ways, and none of them had ended with Leon calling him _Jack_ and apparently blushing. Surely, he’d imagined all of that. There was no way that it had gone so perfectly according to the best possible plan. It had gone so well that it took a path that Krauser hadn’t even let himself consider, because he’d been ready for disappointment. It had never come. Leon had not only invited himself over, but he looked _excited_ about it.

Krauser was dumbfounded, but he wasn’t about to question it. He wasn’t about to jinx it. This might be his chance to really make things work, and if it was his only chance, then he was going to make it work to the best of his ability. Until Friday, then.

The week carried on as slowly as it possibly could. Krauser’s excitement for Friday was unparalleled, and as such, the week had to drag. Life wasn’t quite ready to let him go and experience some endless joy for a night, so it dragged. It dragged, and it was Thursday, and Krauser was going to spend another hour listening to a few crazed book people talk about books.

This time, even though he’d gotten there at no different time, there was a seat waiting right next to Leon. Leon took his backpack off the seat when he saw Krauser and waved to him. Not only was there a seat, but there was a seat on _purpose_. Leon had saved him a seat, and Krauser made himself comfortable in it.

For the entire hour, it was like he and Leon were in their own little world. Instead of participating in the point of the book club, they worked on their homework together. They chatted quietly. They were more wrapped up in each other than they were the fact that they were both at a club function. Before they even knew it, the club was ending. The shuffling of bags and people wasn’t unusual, so it barely caught their attention. It wasn’t until they were the only two left in the library did they realize that they’d stayed fifteen minutes over.

The other book club members had tried to get their attention, and it had sorely failed. They’d eventually just left Leon and Krauser there to do whatever it was they were wrapped up in doing, and that was how they’d found themselves alone.

“We should probably get going,” Leon laughed. “Didn’t mean to keep you late.”

“No big deal. I enjoyed it.”

“Yeah?” Leon had very quickly started to pack up his bag, suddenly trying to avoid Krauser’s eyes. “That’s great. Great. Book club’s fun, yeah?”

Krauser nodded. “Right. Book club.” Because they both knew that wasn’t the subject of their brief conversation.

Krauser walked Leon down to his car, like he’d done on Tuesday. They parted with a promise for tomorrow, because tomorrow was Friday. Krauser would have to make it through the whole day, but Leon already had plans to have his mom drop him off in the morning, so they didn’t have to worry about the extra car thing. The whole day just to know that Leon was not only coming home with him, after practice, but that he was _enjoying_ that fact.

They’d be late, so Krauser reminded Leon to pack something to eat, but after that, he waved Leon off and made way down to his own car. He was more excited than he wanted to admit, but at this point, he was beginning to think that Leon had the same problem. Krauser had talked himself into believing that Leon didn’t like him; he wasn’t going to have a problem talking himself into believing that Leon _did_ like him. Friends. At least.

All that was left was Friday.

Friday could not happen fast enough. Straight out of the morning, it was like Krauser couldn’t even brush his teeth fast enough. He knew, reasonably, that him doing things quickly wasn’t going to make the day go by any faster, but he could dream, at least.

He did everything quickly. He got packed for school quickly, drove to school just a little bit above the speed limit, and got the day going quickly. The classes went at the speed that they would, which was slow, because Krauser couldn’t keep his eyes off the clock. He did his work fast, at least, which didn’t help either, but he did it. It meant he spent a lot of time sitting around and tapping his fingers. Tapping his fingers didn’t help the day go faster, but whatever. He’d make do.

His only saving grace was the fact that Leon didn’t seem to be fairing much better. They had physics together right before lunch. It was a lecture day, not a lab day, which meant that there wasn’t any reason for them to talk. That didn’t stop Krauser from the occasional glance. Krauser could play it off like he was glancing at the clock, because Leon was in the same direction. Leon was fidgeting, bouncing his knee to some unseen beat. Hopefully, that meant he was also waiting for the day to end. Krauser hoped.

Lunch came, and Krauser tried to eat at a normal pace. He didn’t want to look desperate or rushed, especially not because it was a different sort of day. He tended to eat with other members of the football team, but it was Friday. He sat down with Leon and Chris. Chris, of course, had heard all about this new little plan of theirs.

He pretended to be entirely offended. Leon was _his_ best friend; how could he want to sleep over at someone else’s house? They knew he was joking the second Chris brought up the potential of Krauser having cooties. They were seniors in high school. Nobody talked about cooties, anymore. He was very serious about them getting olives on their pizza in his honor, because the change in his life was so stressful, he was going to die.

“Good riddance,” Krauser said. Leon laughed.

Just like that, Friday was over. They had classes after lunch, but they went by in a flash. The only downfall was that Friday wasn’t _actually_ over, and Krauser didn’t remember that until he was packing up his bag for the weekend. He still had practice. Practice wasn’t going to be done in some quick, neat little package. It was going to take a lot of time, and it might even run over. Did he really want to keep Leon on campus, probably doing nothing, well into the evening?

Maybe he should tell Leon this wasn’t such a good idea after all. He could take him home before practice; it’d be out of the way, and he’d have to rush, but it wouldn’t be an imposition. Even if it were, it’d be less of an imposition than making Leon wait around for him all evening.

Krauser’s thoughts died in his head when he closed his locker and Leon was standing _right there_. Not only was he way beyond the whole invading personal space thing, but he was also smiling. It was one of those stupidly wide smiles that said he was happy. Excited, even.

“Hey, hey,” Leon said. “There a good place out on the field for me to stash up? I brought my laptop. There’s this paper we have to write in AP Gov, and I got to thinking that this would be the perfect time to get started on it. Sure, I could just go to the library, or something, to wait, but this’ll be more fun. Also, doesn’t the library close?”

Krauser blinked. “Uh. Yeah. At like six or something.”

“Cool, cool. I figured the field would be more fun. I’ve never gotten to watch a practice. Where do you think I can set up?”

“The bleachers?” Krauser tried. “There’s a pavilion you can sit under. I don’t think it’s going to rain, though.”

“Nah, too bright for that. Sounds great. I also packed a dinner sort of thing, like you said. I think it’s more of a snack, but mom made enough for you, too.”

Krauser really hoped that it had just suddenly gotten hot and that his face wasn’t red.

“Is that okay? You’re not allergic to nuts, are you?”

“No—no, definitely not.” Krauser went to close his locker, and then realized he’d already closed it. He needed to get his head back in the game, this was ridiculous.

“Cool, cool. Mom made me pack a jacket, too. Just in case it gets cold,” Leon said in a mocking voice. “Does it get cold?”

Krauser laughed to himself. “Couldn’t tell you. I’m usually a bit too busy to notice.”

“Right. The whole football thing, gotcha.”

Krauser pointed off down the hall, and they started their walk. Leon seemed to be filling their time with uncomfortable, nervous chatter. Krauser didn’t blame him, but he didn’t understand it, either. As far as he knew, Leon and Chris did things like this all the time. A sleepover shouldn’t have really been that nerve wracking, even if it was with somebody who had only just recently become his friend. Krauser wasn’t exactly well-versed in these things, so maybe he didn’t know. He was nervous, too, for all of his own reasons.

When they got down to the field, Krauser pointed out the bleachers and the pavilion. Leon could take up his seat wherever he thought was best, and then, it was just waiting. Leon would be the one waiting. Krauser would be trying to go about practice normally, like Leon wasn’t sitting on the bleachers with just as much intention to do his homework as to watch Krauser. Krauser didn’t _know_ that Leon had some intention to watch the practice, but he would quickly figure it out.

Practice was difficult. It was always difficult but made even more so each time Krauser glanced over to the bleachers—he really shouldn’t have—and saw Leon having completely abandoned his laptop in turn for watching the teamwork. For watching _Krauser_ , specifically, with his head in his hands, propped up on his knees. Leon had no business looking so happy about all of this, really, he didn’t.

Krauser realized, then, just how stupidly in love with Leon he was. This was going to be a long night.

And it was. It dragged. It dragged _painfully_. Krauser had gotten hit in the face no fewer than three times, because it happened each time he glanced over at Leon. The worst part of it was Leon _laughed_ , but he had an ice pack for Krauser when they met up at the bleachers.

“Good job,” Leon told him, handing him the ice pack. “Is practice always that painful?”

Krauser gratefully pressed the pack into his eye and shook his head. “Must be because you’re here.”

Leon gaped in mock offense, reaching out for a playful slap against Krauser’s shoulder. “I didn’t do anything, man.”

Krauser let him believe that, because telling him the truth was admitting things that he wasn’t quite ready to admit.

The ride to Krauser’s house was just as awkward and filled with nervous chatter as their walk had been before, but Krauser found he didn’t mind. Normally, he drove in silence. He couldn’t stand half of what they played on the radio, and he was driving an old hand-me-down Jeep that didn’t have so much as an AUX cord, let alone a more modern phone connection. Leon’s senseless chatter was a wonderful change of pace—Krauser didn’t want to say it was cute, but _god_ , it was cute.

Leon talked about the test he’d had to take in calculus that morning and how he was sure that everyone had failed it. Of course, Leon’s definition of fail tended to differ from other people’s definition of it, so Krauser assured him that he had no reason to worry. Apparently, there’d been an entire section on the test that they’d never covered in class, so Leon wasn’t so sure, and he nervously chewed on his lip over it. His next topic was a bit lighter, where he told Krauser this story where he’d gone to the gun range over the summer and ended up getting kicked out when he’d spent far past closing time there.

“Why were you there?” Krauser asked, his first question of the nervous chatter.

“Oh, definitely practicing in real life to fight zombies in a video game.”

Krauser snorted. “For real, though?”

“Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t know. I’ve been thinking about going into the police academy. I’m sure they teach you how to do stuff there, but it never hurts to know before you go.”

“Very pragmatic.”

“Oh, thank you,” Leon rolled his eyes and snickered. “I’ve always wanted to be pragmatic.”

Krauser shot him a smile that was far softer than he meant for it to be. Leon even returned it.

When they arrived at Krauser’s house, the driveway was empty. His parents were doing some late-night grocery shopping and had left a note on the front door to explain that. There was money on the counter for pizza, if they wanted to order, and they’d be home late. Krauser took that note off the door and stared at it for a long moment before he even considered unlocking the door and letting them in. Once again, it seemed like an obstacle was presented that might make Leon want to leave, but Leon didn’t even seem to care.

He just cared about the fact that it was nearly six in the evening, he was starving, and they were standing on Krauser’s porch instead of going inside and getting comfortable for the night. Krauser really couldn’t argue with that, and unlocked the door to let them in.

Just as promised, there was cash sitting on the kitchen counter next to a twelve pack of mountain dew, as requested. Leon looked a little bit more impressed than he really needed to be, but Krauser had taken him comically seriously. His parents were apparently happy that he was finally having someone over, and didn’t mind, at all, to fund the excursion. There were plenty of snacks in the cupboard and plenty of sweets in the fridge. Once again, they were told this via post-it notes stuck to things.

“Does your mom always leave you notes like this?” Leon asked.

“Yeah. Used to put them in my lunch box when I was a kid.”

Leon grinned. “That’s adorable.”

Krauser was going to argue that, but Leon was already off rummaging through the cupboards like they were his. That was the sort of comfort in someone else’s house that Krauser thought took years of friendship and visitation, but Leon was just grabbing chips and cheese crackers.

“Your room?” Leon asked, arms comically full of snacks that he had full intentions of eating.

Krauser gestured back towards the stairs and led the way to them. Leon made idle comments about the house as they went through it, and certainly took the time to thank Krauser for thinking to show him the bathroom. Apparently, the first time Leon had ever been over to Chris’ house far back in the sixth grade, he’d had to wander around and find the bathroom himself. Chris was also the type who would have rather given Leon a scavenger hunt to find it than to just show him off, but that was a part of his charm.

Once they were in Krauser’s room and the door was promptly shut, it was finally time to make themselves comfortable. Leon had been waiting for this all day, complaining about how bleachers were not his idea of comfort. Krauser was past feeling bad about it and, instead, just laughed at Leon. He was trading in a hard metal seat for the grand comfort of a floor rug. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with sitting on the floor, and it made it very easy for Leon to set up his little area of snacks.

“We’re going to stay up all night,” Leon said. “Get your game on, let’s go. I’ll order pizza.”

“Do we have to get olives on it?” Krauser asked. He toed off his shoes and set his bag aside by his bed. “For Chris’s memorial, or whatever.”

“If you don’t tell him, I won’t tell him. Deal?” Leon was looking up at Krauser expectantly, already opening up his laptop for pizza.

“Deal.”

Leon ordered a large stuffed crust pizza with pepperoni, sausage, and banana peppers. Since they had the money, they splurged on a side of cheese sticks. It was going to be that sort of night that undid the last four years of hard work with football practice, but Krauser really didn’t care. He was due one of these nights, and there’s no one that he’d rather talk him into it than Leon.

So far, everything was going so much better than Krauser’s thirteen definite potentials for how the night was going to go horribly. Between the two of them, they’d already eaten an entire bag of tortilla chips and a jar of salsa—one of Leon’s favorite snacks, as Krauser was learning. They’d also gotten through exactly one level on the game, because Leon had no intentions of just playing it for Krauser. He wanted to watch, first, to see just how awful he was. Then, after the mission restarted for the first time, he was going to be helpfully backseat driving.

Leon had way more tricks up his sleeve than any normal person should have had, really, but they were helpful. He could point out where all of the hidden items were, the best paths to take, and the best weapons to use. There were things he talked about that Krauser hadn’t even considered to consider before.

“How long have you spent playing this?” Krauser asked, finally putting the controller down. He’d paused the game for just a quick breather.

“Way too much time. Is it obvious?”

“A bit.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Is it weird?” Leon asked.

“No! No. No.” Krauser shook his head. “It’s cool—to be passionate about it, I guess.”

Leon smiled. “Thanks, Jack. Not something I’d expect from you, honestly.”

Krauser shrugged. “No shame in that.”

“Between the _what are you doing with your life_ and the pressure for all that grade stuff, just gets rough,” Leon mumbled. “It’s nice to be able to do something outside of that.”

“Believe me, nobody gets that better than me,” Krauser responded. Leon looked at him, expectantly. “I started out playing soccer when I was, I think, five? Just for fun, right? Big kid, parents thought it’d be worth it to get me out there doing stuff. Next thing you know it’s turning into doing every sport under the sun until they can find out which one I’m good at, and then it’s football for the rest of your life, Jack. Oh, you’re thinking about skipping practice to study for that big test? Grades don’t matter when you’re a football star, Jack.”

Leon grimaced.

“Probably just sounds like whining.”

“Oh, god no. I don’t think you even know how to whine. I was pretty sure you didn’t know how to talk until we started chatting at book club.”

“That’s bullshit,” Krauser scoffed, overly amused at the idea. “We talk in physics all the time.”

“Yeah! But that’s about, like, _school_ shit. Book club you started talking to me and not my physics inferiority. Thought it was kinda cool, was all.” Leon brushed it off with an idle shrug.

“Cool?” Krauser chanced an ask. It felt like he was staring at one of those choices in a video game that would inadvertently decide if he was going to get the best ending or the worst.

“Like, cool that we were talking? Gotta be honest, I thought you kinda didn’t like me for the longest time.”

_Oh._

“Shit,” Krauser breathed. “I suck with people. I’m sure you figured that out.”

“Oh, definitely. You’re not so bad, though. I mean, this—” Leon spread his arms out. “This is great. This is fun. _You_ _’re_ not so fun. Pretty sure you’ve got a stick up your ass, but hey, that doesn’t matter when doing shit together is fun, right?”

Leon was having a good time. That’s what he’d just said. Krauser had heard him just say that—that this was fun. They were having a good time together, even if Krauser was stiff and unsure of what to do. He’d picked the right option, at least. Onward, to the best ending.

“It is fun,” Krauser agreed. “I thought you didn’t like me, either.”

Leon gave a strained smile. “We both suck, don’t we?”

“A bit. I’ve never had a lot of friends. Don’t really know how to make them, you know? Had a thought one day like _Leon_ _’s pretty cool; I like Leon. Don’t know how to be friends with Leon_ —so, I just did nothing.”

Leon looked frozen where he sat, legs folded out in front of him and hands gripped on his ankles. Krauser looked at him for a moment, trying to figure out where he’d gone wrong, and then it dawned on him. He had just said he _liked_ Leon. Was that what Leon was spooked about? He looked like he’d just seen a ghost, and it would surely be something similar to hear that some new guy you’d just started befriending liked you. That was, anyway, if Leon took it in a certain way. Krauser was pretty sure he just meant the like as in liked Leon enough to want to be his friend.

He was over thinking this. If Leon hadn’t been sitting there, staring at him, Krauser might have slapped his own cheeks to get his head back where it belonged: reality.

“I had this weird talk with Chris the other day,” Leon said, slowly. “He was telling me this really stupid story about his cousin. I’m sure he was proud of his story, but it was obviously fake.”

Thanks, Chris.

“Was his story about you?” Leon asked, hesitantly.

Krauser wanted to deny it, but to do that, he would have had to deny it immediately. The second he hesitated, Leon knew that it was. Maybe not fact for fact, word for word, but Chris hadn’t been asking about his cousin. He’d been asking about Krauser. That was the end of it, then. Leon knew everything, and all it had taken was that second of hesitation. Krauser was ready for anything.

He wasn’t ready for the way Leon smiled.

“Should we, like, hold hands or something?” Leon asked, a bit dumbly.

“Wait—what?” Krauser was sure he was about to entirely disconnect from reality.

“Shit, let me start over. I like you too? Didn’t Chris tell you that? I mean, if the story was about you—”

“He said you liked _someone_.”

“He’s an asshole,” Leon frowned. His frown broke a minute later, and he laughed. “He really didn’t tell you? Come on! I told him!”

“He really did that,” Krauser let out a low chuckle. “What an ass.”

“So, original question? Do we hold hands? Something more? I’ve never dated anyone before.”

“Never?”

Leon shook his head. “I mean—do you even want to date? Is that a question you have to ask.”

“No, but yes. Yes, I mean—we should date.”

Leon snickered. “We should, and then we should use that to do something to Chris. He fucked this up on purpose, I know he did.”

“Yeah, but he also wanted us to put olives on the pizza. Probably doesn’t matter so much.”

Krauser even chanced it. They were sitting on the floor together, so why not? He reached out and put his hand over Leon’s. Leon jolted, but he didn’t pull away. His hand as warm, and so was the smile on his face. They were both laughing a second later; this was probably the dumbest way that they could have come to this conclusion, but that was just the reason it was perfect. It didn’t have to be perfect. It didn’t have to line up as well as it did, but it did.

It lined up so perfectly that in the next second that there came a sudden surge of confidence. Leon had seen for himself how Krauser wasn’t himself, which meant he might never go an extra step. Leon would make that step for him with a sudden tug on the arm, their hands together making the perfect anchor.

Krauser didn’t have much space to make up, and the surprise meant that he had no space to fight back either. He followed Leon’s tug, and in the next moment, they were kissing. It was a quick, sweet little thing, but it was a kiss. A _real_ kiss. And it lasted for what felt like an eternity. Only when they pulled apart did they take the time to realize what they’d done.

“I guess we’re kissing,” Krauser said, dumbly.

“I guess we are,” Leon replied, his face red.

Another one wouldn’t hurt.

Come the end of the year, Krauser was key in scoring the winning touchdown of their final game, of _his_ final game. They’d been neck-in-neck the entire time, but those last moments had been the defining moment of the game. There were cheers, shouting, and screaming. They’d won their final game, and Krauser was their hero! It was everything he’d ever really wanted. There were recruiters watching. His family was watching. But it didn’t quite matter as much as the fact that _Leon_ was watching.

Leon hadn’t missed a game. He always sat as close to the front as he could go, cheering and whooping like the rest of them. He was no avid sports fan, especially not of football, but he wouldn’t miss a chance to show Krauser that he supported him. That he _cared_ about him.

Leon was the first one to meet him off the field, excited and happy as the rest of them had been. What a cool play. You did that! Jack, you’re amazing. And Krauser really couldn’t have remembered a better game, a better play, or a better way to end it all. There was still a party, and there had been a plan, once. Krauser was notorious for plans.

He’d planned their first date down to a T, and it’d been so utterly off-kilter that it’d almost been a fluke. Or so Krauser thought. Leon had laughed and enjoyed all of it, from being caught in the rain to the flat tire.

Krauser had tried to plan more dates. Krauser had tried to plan school. Krauser had tried to plan a lot of things. And for the first time, in the heat of the moment, he thought—why try and follow the plan, this time? It’d never worked before. It wouldn’t work now.

Instead of following his plans, he put his hands around Leon’s face and swooped down to kiss him, right there. In the background, they could both still hear the cheering of the fans, the team. It all drowned away with the rest of the world, leaving nothing but them, the kiss, and a whole lot of broken plans. Plans didn’t seem to matter. This was better than anything Krauser could have planned.

**Author's Note:**

> 𓆏 Froge Bounces 𓆏  
> [Check me out on Tumblr!](https://tantumuna.tumblr.com)  
> [My Twitter!](https://twitter.com/tantumunawrites)  
> 


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